Influx of Brazilian students enjoy University of Windsor life

From left: Tiago Garcia, Luiz Henrique Aquino de Marchi, and Angelo Andreoli — three of many visiting Brazilian students at the University of Windsor. Photographed Jan. 22, 2014. (Jason Kryk / The Windsor Star)

Fellow engineering student Tiago Garcia, 21, shakes his head in disbelief. Up until a few weeks ago, he’d never experienced sub-zero temperatures before. In his hometown of Fortaleza, it’s usually above 25 C in December.

“Oh, it’s really different,” Garcia says. “When I arrived here, it was the coldest day of all the year.”

Harsh winter weather is only one of the things that de Marchi, Garcia, Andreoli, and scores of other visiting Brazilian students are learning about at the University of Windsor.

They’re all participants in Science Without Borders — a scholarship program launched in 2011 by the Brazilian government that has allowed an unprecedented number of young Brazilians to travel to other countries for study in technology, engineering and mathematics.

The goal is to have 101,000 Brazilian students abroad by 2015. The Brazilian government is fully subsidizing about 75 per cent of those participants, while the private sector is covering the rest.

“They’re going all over the place, and Canada — including Windsor — is getting a share of that,” says Michelle Fitzgerald, an administrator at the university’s International Student Centre.

Fitzgerald estimates there are currently 105 visiting Brazilians at the U of W, enrolled for 12-month or 16-month durations.

Garcia started his Canadian experience earlier this month. Andreoli, who’s taking mechanical engineering, has been in Windsor since September.

Luiz Henrique Aquino de Marchi

De Marchi, a civil engineering student with a 91.5 per cent grade average, will return to Sao Paulo State in April.

“It opens your mind a lot,” de Marchi says about his time in Windsor. “Most important, what we are bringing back home is knowledge.”

“What I’ve been learning in this internship, about welding, is really, really new,” he explains. “We don’t have it in Brazil.”

The biggest difference that de Marchi has noticed between Brazilian and Canadian universities is the amount of class time. He feels that courses in Brazil require students to spend many more hours in sessions, while courses at the University of Windsor involve more study outside the lecture hall.

“But the labs here are way better,” de Marchi adds.

Angelo Andreoli

Of course, university life isn’t just about academics. de Marchi and Andreoli say that they’ve had time to socialize and explore.

The downtown Windsor club scene, it turns out, isn’t much different from nightlife in Sao Paulo State — although Andreoli says our last calls are early compared to Brazil. “I think that’s a good thing. The parties (in Sao Paulo), they can go to 9 a.m.”

Meanwhile, Canadian stereotypes seem to be holding true. “Well, Canadians in general are really polite,” de Marchi says. “They are really welcoming, too.”

Garcia also appreciates the diversity that’s immediately apparent in Windsor, on campus and off. “It’s cool here. We have the opportunity to meet people from all around the world. I met Chinese, French guys, Germans, (people from) Dubai.”

Some of the visiting Brazilians have even ventured across the border to check out Detroit. “Danger,” Andreoli says. “I had a bad experience there. We were waiting for a bus and we heard some shots nearby.”

de Marchi, having experienced summer months in Windsor-Essex, enjoys our region’s natural beauty — especially Point Pelee, which he feels is very different from the landscape of his hometown in Mato Grosso.

However, one thing the students won’t particularly miss when they return to Brazil is Canadian food.

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